A stout iron hook of four curved prongs forged into a single haft, finished with a thick eye for the attachment of rope. The prongs are broad enough to bite on stone crenellations, timber beams, and the lips of low battlements, and the head is heavy enough that a trained hand can loft it two storeys with a good swing of the line. Burglars, scouts, siege-climbers, and wreckers of ships all carry one; a soldier’s version is commonly blackened to kill the glint and wrapped at the eye with leather to quiet the throw.
A grappling hook is an ascent tool, not a descent tool. Thrown up and set, it holds a climber’s weight on stout rope and lets him gain a ledge or wall-head without the slower work of pitons. Coming down, however, the rope must be anchored to the hook above — meaning the hook (and often some or all of the rope with it) is usually left behind, or else recovered only by a second party at the top. Prudent climbers therefore pair the hook with pitons for the descent, or accept the cost of the hook as the price of getting up.